Bears hope to use Vikings as spring board

Lovie Smith still sells hope, saying the Bears (4-6) are starting a six-game season with “no room for error” to make the playoffs.

Matt Trowbridge

Lovie Smith still sells hope, saying the Bears (4-6) are starting a six-game season with “no room for error” to make the playoffs.

But before the Bears can believe their coach’s playoff talk, they must show a reason to believe in themselves after losing five of their last six games.

“Technically, everything’s still out there,” defensive end Alex Brown said. “It’s possible for us to do everything. But we’ve got to win a game. We’re talking about breaking it down to a six-game season, but we’ve got to win one.”

Today offers the best chance to believe. And the hardest. If the Bears can silence that Viking horn in the Metrodome and beat Minnesota (9-1), it will be even more impressive than their early season home win over the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers.

“They are on a roll, sitting on top of the world,” defensive tackle Anthony Adams said. “We’ve got to knock them off their pedestal.

“Everybody is expecting us to lose. They’ve got (Brett) Favre. They’ve got Adrian Peterson and a great offensive line, a great defensive line. They’ve got a lot of things going for them. Everybody is expecting us to fail except us.”

Favre, at age 40, is having the best season of his life for the formerly passing-challenged Vikings. He leads the NFL in passer rating (112.1) and fewest interceptions (three) and is second in TD passes (21). Still, the Bears’ concerns start, as always, with Peterson.

Peterson, who is nursing a sore ankle, has 554 yards rushing in four career games against Chicago.

“Adrian Peterson is as good as it gets,” defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. “He’s the key to that offense. If you don’t stop him, you don’t have a chance on Sunday. He makes guys miss. He runs over guys. He runs away from guys.

“He’s one of the toughest guys to tackle. I do not want to see him and one of our safeties one-on-one. I almost don’t want to see him and one of our defensive linemen one-on-one.”

Nor is it easy to stop Favre and receivers Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian.
“We go from one poison to the next,” Ogunleye said.

That includes defense as well as offense. Tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams anchor a defense that has led the NFL in rushing a record three straight years and is third this season.

Also, end Jared Allen has 68 sacks in the last 5 ½ seasons, including 4 ½ in two games against the Bears last year.

“We’ve got to be aware of where he is at at all times, try to get help on him and mix up what we do,” offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. “But they have so many other guys, too, that you can’t focus totally on him.”

The Bears of the last six games don’t seem to have a chance. Except the Bears were never supposed to struggle like this.

“It just doesn’t seem right,” Favre said in a teleconference of playing a sub-.500 Chicago team.
This is Chicago’s chance to show that.

“We’re going against a team that is in a place where we want to be,” Ogunleye said. “They won the NFC North last year. It’s a great measuring stick for us. You can throw the records out the window. It’s going to come down to pride and heart and hustle.”